Show Your Hand

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title: "Show Your Hand" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["super-furry-animals-songs", "2007-singles", "2007-songs", "rough-trade-records-singles"] topic_path: "arts/music" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Show_Your_Hand" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox song"]

FieldValue
nameShow Your Hand
coversfa-showyourhand.jpg
typesingle
artistSuper Furry Animals
albumHey Venus!
released16 July 2007 (Download only)
13 August 2007
recordedMiraval Studios, France
genreIndie rock
length2:51
labelRough Trade Records
writerSuper Furry Animals
producerSuper Furry Animals with David Newfeld
prev_titleLazer Beam
prev_year2005
next_titleRun-Away"
next_year2007
::

| name = Show Your Hand | cover = sfa-showyourhand.jpg | alt = | type = single | artist = Super Furry Animals | album = Hey Venus! | released = 16 July 2007 (Download only) 13 August 2007 | recorded = Miraval Studios, France | studio = | venue = | genre = Indie rock | length = 2:51 | label = Rough Trade Records | writer = Super Furry Animals | producer = Super Furry Animals with David Newfeld | prev_title = Lazer Beam | prev_year = 2005 | next_title = Run-Away" | next_year = 2007

"Show Your Hand" is a song by Welsh rock band Super Furry Animals and was the first single from their 2007 album, Hey Venus!. The single was made available for download on 16 July 2007 as an iTunes exclusive and was later released in physical formats on 13 August in the UK. The track failed to penetrate the UK singles chart's Top 40, peaking at #46.

According to lead singer Gruff Rhys the track is "a song about gambling" and was originally going to be left off Hey Venus! for being "too generic" before Rough Trade boss Geoff Travis persuaded the band to reconsider their decision. Critical reaction to the track was mixed with some reviewers claiming "Show Your Hand" was "ponderously mature" and "more like the generic pop songs one would find on the radio" while others hailed the track as "classic Furries".

Unlike the two other singles taken from Hey Venus!, "Run-Away" and "The Gift That Keeps Giving", no music video was produced for "Show Your Hand".

Origins and recording

In an interview with Pitchfork Media given before the release of Hey Venus!, singer Gruff Rhys claimed "Show Your Hand" was "a song about gambling. There's lots of card-playing going on in the Super Furry Animals [tour bus], which may have [had] a slight influence on the subject matter". Rhys went on to state that the song was initially left off Hey Venus! for being "too generic":

A combination of pressure from Rough Trade's Geoff Travis and Jeannette Lee ("Where's that song gone? That's our favorite song!" additional recording also took place with Chris Shaw who mixed the album.

Musical structure

|filename=Super_Furry_Animals_-_Show_Your_Hand.ogg |title=Super Furry Animals "Show Your Hand" (2007) |description=Short sample from "Show Your Hand" illustrating the track's key change chorus which takes place before the outro.}}

"Show Your Hand" is 2 minutes 51 seconds long and is in the key of E minor. The song begins with a "Kevin Ayers-style psych-pop intro"; "a Beatlesque harpsichord line" accompanied by intermittent bass and occasional strummed guitar chords with Rhys singing the lines "You're perched so neatly on the fence, you're keeping your cards all to yourself..." as the songs builds to its first chorus on 30 seconds.

"Emphatic power chords" takes the song into the "rarefied soft-rock territory" of the chorus with Rhys singing the title phrase four times before being joined by "sugar-sweet harmonies from the Brian Wilson School of Spine-Tingling Pop" on the last lines: "I'm jumping off the fence, into your corner". Another verse and chorus follow before the song's middle 8 at 1 minute 31 seconds, a multi-layered vocal take on a regular verse featuring just 'bah, bah, bahs' in place of lyrics.

The song ends with a triple chorus (the third of which features a key change to A major) as "French horn counterpoints usher the song towards its climax", the line "jumping off the fence" repeating three times before a staccato finish with Rhys singing "into your corner", drawing out the last word.

Critical response

Although some critics hailed the track as a 'return to form' for the band, with the Manchester Evening News describing the song as a "the best that the Furries have sounded in ages ... a return to the mellow-but-bouncy pop fare of their early albums Fuzzy Logic and Guerilla", others pointed out that "Show Your Hand" is "ponderously mature", However, The Guardian stated that "Show Your Hand" "is the sort of music [the Super Furry Animals] do best - hazy, lazy sunshine pop". And while Cokemachineglow believed the track "may not have the staying power or the immediate pull of the Super Furry Animals' best singles" their reviewer conceded that "it's not too far behind".

The 'retro' nature of the track was commented on by several critics with The Independent describing the track as being performed in a "sophisticated soft-rock style" which recalls "the arrangements of The Association and Surf's Up-era Beach Boys", Pitchfork Media calling the song "Zombies-esque orchestral pop", and Drowned in Sound describing "Show Your Hand" as "an almost Bacharachian gem":

BBC Wales described "Show Your Hand" as "classic Furries" in a favourable review on their website to coincide with the release of the track as a single going on to state that it is:

Track listing

All songs by Super Furry Animals.

  • CD (RTRADSCD402)
    1. "Show Your Hand" – 2:51
    2. "Aluminium Illuminati" – 2:37
    3. "Never More" – 2:25
  • 7" (RTRADS402)
    1. "Show Your Hand" – 2:51
    2. "Never More" – 2:25

Personnel

Singles chart positions

::data[format=table] | Chart | Peak position | |---|---| | UK Singles Chart | 46 | ::

References

References

  1. (2007-05-26). "Super Furry Animals star reveals full details of band's comeback". [[NME]].
  2. (2007-07-30). "Super Furry Animals score highest new entry on UK album chart". [[NME]].
  3. (2008-07-31). "Super Furry Animals - Show Your Hand". aCharts.
  4. Hogan, Marc. (2007-08-27). "Interview: Super Furry Animals". [[Pitchfork Media]].
  5. Southall, Nick. (2007-08-24). "Super Furry Animals - Hey Venus!". [[Stylus Magazine]].
  6. Wu, Baishi. (2008-01-24). "Super Furry Animals". Duke Chronicle.
  7. Goodden, Joe. (September 2025). "Show Your Hand". [[BBC Wales]].
  8. (c. 2007). "Albums, Hey Venus!". [[Super Furry Animals]] official website, discography page.
  9. (2007). "Hey Venus!". [[Rough Trade Records]].
  10. (2000-05-16). "Super Furries Get Their Claws Into Diva Dion". [[NME]].
  11. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. (c. 2007). "Hey Venus!". [[Allmusic]].
  12. Paphides, Pete. (2007-08-24). "Super Furry Animals: Hey Venus!". [[The Times]].
  13. Hall, Andrew. (2007-08-04). "To review: The ear weighs in on recent releases". [[Whitman College.
  14. Gill, Andy. (2007-08-24). "Hey Venus! (Rough Trade)". [[The Independent]].
  15. Thompson, Nick. (2007-08-13). "Super Furry Animals - Show Your Hand (Rough Trade)". [[Manchester Evening News]].
  16. Hepburn, Peter. (2007-07-10). "Super Furry Animals :: "Show Your Hand"". Cokemachineglow.
  17. Rodgers, Jude. (2007-08-24). "Worth the detour (Hey Venus! track-by-track review)". [[The Guardian]].
  18. Hogan, Marc. (2007-08-13). "Hey Venus!". [[Pitchfork Media]].
  19. Wale, Dan. (2007-08-13). "Super Furry Animals: Show Your Hand". [[Drowned in Sound]].

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

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